Traditionally, the majority of the world’s wealthy elite have hailed from those parts of the world with advanced Western economies; most notably from Europe and North America. However, this trend is shifting east as Asia now mints more new high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals than any other part of the […]
The UK immigration landscape continues to be dominated by Brexit. The questions of ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘what’ remain unanswered and some commentators are even starting to question ‘if’ Brexit will actually take place, although this may be wishful thinking. Whilst focusing on the possibility that Brexit might not actually happen may provide some comfort […]
The EB-5 Regional Center Program (the “Program”) is responsible for tens of billions of dollars in capital investments and tens of thousands of American jobs. It is critical for lawmakers to understand the detrimental consequences to the U.S. economy if they allow EB-5 to lapse or expire. From 2005 to 2015, over $15 […]
Italy opens its borders to foreign investors. From 9 February 2016, applications for investor work permits may be submitted in Italian to the local immigration authorities via a dedicated web site. In effect, on 2 February 2016, Italy enacted the annual decree setting forth the quotas for 2016 that apply for different categories of foreign […]
A long term extension of the regional center EB-5 program failed to pass Congress in 2015 mostly because of intractable differences between rural and urban interests. Various proposals were floated seeking to incentivize rural investments and discourage urban investments by providing a reduced investment amount based on various artificial configurations of census tracts. In the […]
In recent years, many countries signed an agreement with the United States, known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. This enables automatic reporting to the US tax authorities of financial data of any Americans with bank accounts in their territory, such as income from savings. These agreements inspired the OECD and the G20 to […]
The biggest issue presently in the U.S. EB-5 investment green card program is the long quota waiting list for Chinese national investors, who comprise over 85% of all investors in the EB-5 program. Because the waiting list may exceed 4 to 5 years before the investor can immigrate to the U.S., investors and their representatives […]
The annual number of relinquishments of U.S. Citizenship has grown exponentially in just the last few years. According to data published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in 2015, a total of 4,279 people relinquished their U.S. citizenship, 800 more than the previous year. In contrast, the number of renunciants was a few hundred […]
While the concept of residence planning for wealthy individuals is not new, the motives behind such considerations are continually evolving, particularly in Asia. There are various reasons why wealthy individuals may consider relocating. These reasons include quality of life, security, education and most notably tax planning. Traditionally, and amongst Europeans in particular, the only way […]
Immigration authorities in the Province of Quebec announced they will begin accepting new applications under its highly successful Quebec Immigrant Investor Program for a limited period beginning May 30th 2016 and ending February 28th 2017. This comes as welcome news for high net worth individuals looking for an attractive passive investment program offering Canadian permanent residence. The […]
